MINSK, 13 March (BelTA) – A joint Belarusian-British exercise finished in the training area Losvido of the 103rd Vitebsk Independent Guards Airborne Brigade. The British troops are expected to leave Belarus on 15 March, representatives of the Belarusian Defense Ministry told BelTA.
UK Ambassador to Belarus Jacqueline Perkins took part in the closing ceremony. “The first testimonials from the UK military indicate that such events are truly valuable, particularly when they are organized on a bilateral basis,” she noted.
The ambassador stressed that both Belarusians and the British fought against Nazism during World War Two. She drew attention to the propensity of Belarusians as a nation for preventing conflicts. “We support you in this pursuit,” Jacqueline Perkins assured.
“The understanding of history the military personnel of the 42nd Marine Battalion of the UK armed forces acquired as they visited Khatyn and the Great Patriotic War history museum last weekend is as important as the sharing of military skills,” the diplomat believes.
BelTA reported earlier that the Belarusian-British exercise Winter Partisan began in the training area Losvido of the 103rd Vitebsk Independent Guards Airborne Brigade on 2 March. The event was organized as part of Belarus-UK cooperation in training peacekeeping personnel. It is particularly topical from the point of view of the plans to expand Belarus' participation in UN peacekeeping efforts. The training was not part of some multilateral exercise. Such events have been organized together with the British side in the two countries regularly since 2018.
As many as 28 soldiers from the 42nd Marine Battalion of the UK armed forces took part in the exercise. The Belarusian side was represented by a peacekeeping company of the 103rd Independent Guards Airborne Brigade.
